Historical outbreaks
Keep the historical record in context. Past observations are not current case counts.
Explore events in time.
39 events · Ancient epidemics to modern pandemics
Travel through the outbreak record, from ancient epidemics to modern pandemics. Choose a range of starting years, then open an event for its story and evidence.
Use negative years for BCE dates, such as −430 for 430 BCE.
430–426 BCE, including recurrent waves
The Plague of Athens, 430–426 BCE
Athens and the Athenian world · Explore this event →
From approximately 165–166 CE; continued into and beyond the 180s
The Antonine Plague in the Roman Empire
Roman Empire · Explore this event →
541–543 CE initial outbreak; later recurrences during the first pandemic
Justinian’s plague and the first plague pandemic
Mediterranean and Europe · Explore this event →
Approximately 1346–1353 in the European pandemic chronology
The Black Death: dates, plague DNA and the historical evidence
Europe and surrounding regions · Explore this event →
1545–1548
The cocoliztli epidemic of 1545–1548
Colonial Mexico · Explore this event →
June 1563–January 1564 (study observation window)
London’s plague outbreak of 1563
London · Explore this event →
1576–1578
The cocoliztli epidemic of 1576–1578
Colonial Mexico · Explore this event →
1616–1619
The New England epidemic of 1616–1619
New England · Explore this event →
1629–1631, with different local outbreak windows
The Italian plague of 1629–1631
Northern and central Italy · Explore this event →
1665–1666
The Great Plague of London, 1665–1666
London and England · Explore this event →
1668: the Rouen care episode discussed in the historical study
Plague in France in 1668: care in Rouen
Rouen, France · Explore this event →
1679; distinct from the later 1713 outbreak
Vienna’s plague outbreak of 1679
Vienna, Austria · Explore this event →
1707–1709, as used in the cited demographic study
Iceland’s smallpox epidemic of 1707–1709
Iceland · Explore this event →
1720–1722
The Great Plague of Marseille, 1720–1722
Marseille and Provence, France · Explore this event →
Approximately 1738–1743; Debrecen episodes from 1739
The plague of 1738–1743 in the Habsburg lands
Hungary, Transylvania and neighbouring Habsburg regions · Explore this event →
1770–1772; Moscow’s main crisis in 1771
The Russian plague of 1770–1772: Moscow’s 1771 epidemic
Moscow and affected parts of the Russian Empire · Explore this event →
1772–1773
The Persian Gulf plague epidemic of 1772–1773
Persia and the Persian Gulf region, including present-day Iraq · Explore this event →
1793
Philadelphia’s yellow fever epidemic of 1793
Philadelphia · Explore this event →
1817–1824 in a common historical periodisation
The first cholera pandemic, beginning in 1817
South and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and eastern Africa · Explore this event →
Late 1820s–1830s; wider periodisations also appear in historical literature
The second cholera pandemic and the outbreaks of the 1830s
Asia, Europe and North America · Explore this event →
Mid-nineteenth century, commonly grouped as 1846–1860; London study in 1854
The third cholera pandemic and London in 1854
Multiple regions; London case study · Explore this event →
1847
Typhus, migration and Grosse Île in 1847
Grosse Île, Canada · Explore this event →
From the mid-nineteenth century; major international expansion from 1894
The third plague pandemic: origins and international spread
China and subsequent international outbreaks · Explore this event →
1860s–1870s; regional and historical boundaries vary
The fourth cholera pandemic in the 1860s and 1870s
Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas · Explore this event →
1875
The 1875 measles epidemic in Fiji
Fiji · Explore this event →
Approximately 1899–1923 in a common historical periodisation
The sixth cholera pandemic, approximately 1899–1923
Asia, the Middle East, Europe and northern Africa · Explore this event →
Approximately 1916–1927; later neurological consequences
Encephalitis lethargica: the epidemic of the 1910s and 1920s
International · Explore this event →
1918 (pandemic emergence)
The 1918 influenza pandemic
Worldwide · Explore this event →
1957 (pandemic emergence)
The 1957 influenza pandemic
Worldwide · Explore this event →
1968 (pandemic emergence)
The 1968 influenza pandemic
Worldwide · Explore this event →
1981–present: clinical recognition and the continuing epidemic
HIV and AIDS: history, facts and the current global picture
Global · Explore this event →
November 2002–July 2003
The SARS outbreak of 2002–2003
International · Explore this event →
August 2008–July 2009
Zimbabwe’s cholera outbreak of 2008–2009
Zimbabwe · Explore this event →
2009–2010
The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic
Worldwide · Explore this event →
2010–2019 epidemic; a separate resurgence reported in 2022
Haiti’s cholera epidemic: 2010 and the 2022 resurgence
Haiti · Explore this event →
2012–present: identification and subsequent outbreaks
MERS: coronavirus identification in 2012 and later outbreaks
Middle East and other affected countries · Explore this event →
2014–2016
West Africa’s Ebola epidemic, 2014–2016
Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone; international spread · Explore this event →
2015–2016 epidemic; PHEIC from 1 February to 18 November 2016
The Zika epidemic of 2015–2016
The Americas and other affected regions · Explore this event →
December 2019–2020: emergence and early pandemic
COVID-19: emergence in 2019 and the pandemic in 2020
Global · Explore this event →
COVID-19: emergence in 2019 and the pandemic in 2020
The early COVID-19 timeline, WHO’s January and March 2020 milestones, and the distinction between ending an emergency designation and ending a disease.
Read the story →
Encephalitis lethargica: the epidemic of the 1910s and 1920s
The historical encephalitis lethargica epidemic, its neurological consequences, and what retrospective research can and cannot establish about its cause.
Read the story →
Haiti’s cholera epidemic: 2010 and the 2022 resurgence
How Haiti’s cholera epidemic began in 2010, what the later resurgence means, and why separate reporting periods must remain distinct.
Read the story →
HIV and AIDS: history, facts and the current global picture
Explore HIV and AIDS history, transmission facts, treatment and prevention, with dated global estimates and a timeline of the continuing epidemic.
Read the story →
Iceland’s smallpox epidemic of 1707–1709
Iceland’s early-eighteenth-century smallpox epidemic and the difference between deaths among cases, population mortality and reconstructed estimates.
Read the story →
Justinian’s plague and the first plague pandemic
The initial sixth-century outbreak, later recurrences, and what ancient Yersinia pestis genomes reveal about the first plague pandemic.
Read the story →
London’s plague outbreak of 1563
Explore London’s 1563 plague through historical mortality observations and the research comparing possible routes of transmission.
Read the story →
MERS: coronavirus identification in 2012 and later outbreaks
The identification of MERS-CoV in 2012, the importance of hospital outbreaks, and why MERS, SARS and COVID-19 need separate histories.
Read the story →
Philadelphia’s yellow fever epidemic of 1793
Explore Philadelphia’s 1793 yellow fever response through its volunteer committee, hospital care and the work of Black community leaders.
Read the story →
Plague in France in 1668: care in Rouen
A closer look at care for plague patients in Rouen in 1668, using research on French plague hospitals rather than an unexplained national death total.
Read the story →
The 1875 measles epidemic in Fiji
Place Fiji’s devastating 1875 measles epidemic in the wider history of outbreaks in communities with little previous exposure.
Read the story →
The 1918 influenza pandemic
Explore the 1918 H1N1 influenza pandemic, wartime conditions, historical mortality estimates and the limits of comparisons with modern outbreaks.
Read the story →
The 1957 influenza pandemic
The 1957 H2N2 influenza pandemic: the emerging virus, the estimated global toll and how to interpret its place in influenza history.
Read the story →
The 1968 influenza pandemic
Understand the 1968 H3N2 influenza pandemic, its estimated mortality and the distinction between pandemic emergence and later seasonal circulation.
Read the story →
The 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic
Follow the 2009 H1N1 pandemic from detection and the international emergency to WHO’s August 2010 change in pandemic status.
Read the story →
The Antonine Plague in the Roman Empire
The Roman epidemic associated with Galen and the reign of Marcus Aurelius, with a clear distinction between historical descriptions and proposed diagnoses.
Read the story →
The Black Death: dates, plague DNA and the historical evidence
The fourteenth-century Black Death, its relationship to the second plague pandemic, and the evidence from London’s 1348–1350 burial ground.
Read the story →
The cocoliztli epidemic of 1545–1548
Evidence for the sixteenth-century epidemic in Mexico, including ancient Salmonella DNA, and why findings from one cemetery need a defined scope.
Read the story →
The cocoliztli epidemic of 1576–1578
Historical and climate evidence for Mexico’s later cocoliztli epidemic, distinguished from the 1545–1548 episode and its separate ancient-DNA findings.
Read the story →
The first cholera pandemic, beginning in 1817
The first nineteenth-century cholera pandemic, its spread from Bengal, and why the beginning of a pandemic differs from the first existence of a disease.
Read the story →